Thursday, April 21, 2016

Who called the Judge a . . . .?

They’re a funny bunch in Noo Zilland. They call each other bro and mate all the time and they finish sentences with eh, pronounced aye. Example:

Kiwi 1: “What’s a Hindu, bro?”

Kiwi 2: “It lays eggs, eh.”

Which is all by way of an introduction to an item about the workings of the Noo Zilland legal system.

On 12 January 2016 the Taranaki Daily News reported that Judge Allan Roberts had announced that he was retiring. One man, Troy LaRue, having some sort of grievance against His Honour, took the opportunity to direct a few comments about the learned judge on his Facebook page.

Judge Roberts

Troy LaRue

LaRue was due to appear at the New Plymouth District Court for unpaid traffic fines totaling $6,244. His FB page expressed his hope that Judge Roberts would be gone by the time he was to appear. LaRue duly fronted the court on 21 January and guess who was on the bench. None other than Dread Judge Roberts, eh.

The following is a transcript of those proceedings. . . .

_______________________________

There is a postscript to the above, bro.

LaRue appealed to the High Court against the 300 hours community service ordered by Dread Judge Roberts.

His appeal was heard by Justice Robert Dobson, who disagreed with both Judge Roberts’ methodology and his order.

"However amusing these exchanges may have been for the interested bystander, it is an inappropriate way to deal with a matter of unpaid fines.

"Predictably, counsel argued on the appeal that the judge set the number of hours community work, taking into account the irrelevant consideration of Mr La Rue's derogatory comments about him," he told Fairfax.

Justice Dobson said LaRue should be subject to "some leniency" because of the "overbearing way in which the matter was dealt with in the district court".